Frank Luntz, a republican strategist, addresses the crowd gathered for lunch. A thousand delegates and republicans from around the state gathered at the Sacramento Convention Center for the California Republican Party Convention in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Frank Luntz, a republican strategist, addresses the crowd gathered...

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Scott Carpenter of Orange County, dressed as a RINO Rhino (Republican In Name Only) protests new primary system based on Prop. 14. A thousand delegates and republicans from around the state gathered at the Sacramento Convention Center for the California Republican Party Convention in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Scott Carpenter of Orange County, dressed as a RINO Rhino...

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Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on stage during his speech to the guests gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Saturday night. Barbour is testing the waters for a run for the presidency. The California Republican Party held their party convention at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour on stage during his speech to the...

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Tom Del Beccaro, left, joins Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, right, on stage after Barbour concluded his speech to the guests gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Saturday night. Del Beccaro was elected as the Chair of the California Republican Party and Barbour is testing the waters for a run for the presidency. The California Republican Party held their party convention at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Tom Del Beccaro, left, addresses the press at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Saturday afternoon. Del Beccaro was elected as the Chair of the California Republican Party. The California Republican Party held their party convention at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Tom Del Beccaro, left, addresses the press at the Hyatt Regency...

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U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, addressed the crowd gathered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento on Saturday night. The California Republican Party held their party convention at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, addressed the crowd...

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Peter Foy, a member of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and state chairman of Americans for Prosperity, kicks off his "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on a Government Pension" limousine tour at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento on Saturday. The California Republican Party held their party convention at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle

Peter Foy, a member of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors and...

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Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour listens to a speech given by U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Sacramento on Saturday night. Barbour later addressed the group and is considering a run for the presidency. The California Republican Party held their party convention at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday, March 19, 2011.

Crippled by declining registration and frozen by intraparty battles, California Republicans are in such disarray - and so apparently nervous about their prospects - that they attempted to ban the media from a luncheon keynote speech of a nationally known pollster laying out the party's future challenges.

The move to eject the media from the speech delivered by Fox News contributor Frank Luntz didn't please many Republicans - and embarrassed a state party that, for the second time in its three-day convention, had attempted to bar media from reporting on the ordinarily mundane gathering of 1,000 party faithful.

"I am really appalled. Here we stand as Republicans, we stand for the First Amendment, freedom of the press," said Celeste Greig, chairwoman of the conservative California Republican Assembly. "This happens in Iraq, Iran, or the old KGB when they were in control."

Eric Hogue, a conservative Sacramento talk show host, also was disgusted.

"I'm tired of secret meetings," he said, adding that he believes the party has been hijacked by a small group of activists. "Some people believe control is more important than success.

"We want people to hear what we're for ... either we grow as a party or by 2012, we become a third party in Sacramento."

Internal divisions

The raucous events underscored both internal divisions and political challenges for the GOP in California, which has the nation's largest state Republican organization, but has seen party registration shrink to a dismal 31 percent.

In a state where Democrats control both houses of the Legislature and all statewide offices, Republicans at the event - moderates and conservatives alike - appeared painfully aware of the formidable challenges ahead, even as they debated what the party needs to do to reinvigorate itself.

"We need Republicans with balls - that's what we need," said Karen Klinger, an impassioned party volunteer from Sacramento. She was livid that most GOP legislators in Sacramento sat out a vote last week to end redevelopment agencies, a move she said many Republicans support.

"They just don't want to stand up," she said. "It's time people say you're going to be voted out."

But Cliff Wagner, a Butte County delegate and vice chairman of the California Republican Assembly, is among those who don't believe Republicans in the Legislature should cooperate in any way to cut a budget deal with Gov. Jerry Brown.

"The strength of Republicans exists in unity," he said.

While many Republicans at the gathering agree that they have to find ways to make the party grow, few put forward specifics.

A GOP-funded survey last week of California Latinos found that while 300,000 more Latinos voted in 2010 than in 2008, only a third voted for Meg Whitman or Carly Fiorina, the party's candidates for governor and U.S. Senate. Many Latinos told pollsters they wouldn't vote for Republicans unless the party moderated its stance on a number of issues, especially immigration.

"Our problem on immigration is that no one knows what the party's stance is," said Mike Spence, a longtime Republican leader and strategist. "So when you ask voters what it is, they say it's the worst possible thing to us."

Party officials were clearly uncomfortable with the display of Republicans' anger, at times directed at each other in party meetings.

Combative debates

On Friday, GOP leaders tried to eject reporters from a party rules committee meeting where debates became so combative that two leading GOP legislators, state Sens. Sam Blakeslee and Bob Dutton, walked out in disgust for a time. Reporters protested and were allowed to remain.

On Saturday, GOP officials and security personnel attempted to banish media from the media table before Luntz was scheduled to deliver his frank assessment of the challenges and issues the Republican Party faces.

Party spokesman Mark Standriff told reporters Luntz would be delivering confidential information and strategy about the state of the California GOP, designed to be heard only by party members. Luntz himself told the luncheon audience that he had wanted to eject the media and talk with them privately, but later decided "there is nothing that Republicans have to hide ... we're going to have an open and frank conversation."

After reporters complained that the lunchtime address had been billed for months as open to the media, party officials agreed to let them stay.

The attempt to make Luntz's assessment off-limits to the media keenly illustrated why the party is saddled with so many political challenges, GOP observers said.

"The first step forward is honest analysis of where the party is and where it goes to be competitive," said Mitch Zak, a GOP strategist who worked on Whitman's campaign. "It all comes down to two words: voter turnout. The party clearly needs to attract more people to the GOP message."